SIR Alex Ferguson aims to have recaptured the EPL crown before his side hits Sydney, but former Manchester United striker Andy Cole believes that won't come anywhere near sating his appetite.

Confirmation that United will play an A-League All-Stars XI on July 20 came just hours after they had beaten Manchester City in a tumultuous derby to open up a six-point lead at the EPL summit.

But Cole, who still enthuses about his trip here with United in 1999, believes Ferguson will not contemplate retirement "for a few years yet" despite turning 70 this year - especially as he believes bitter rivals City could still run United to the wire this season.

United's 1999 visit came in the wake of the famous treble win - European Cup, EPL and FA Cup - and Cole discovered Sydney was "just a brilliant place".

Ferguson wasn't on that trip but will be next July and will show an Australian audience the fire that still burns deep, according to the former England striker.

"(Retirement) is a tough question to answer - it depends so much on how he's feeling, his future after football, whether he'll ever want to retire," Cole said.

"He's still enjoying it and surrounded by young players, which keeps him young.

"As long as the team keeps winning, and keeps improving, I think he'll be around for a few years yet.

"I remember when he first said that he wanted to knock Liverpool off their perch, i.e. win titles. We were fortunate enough to do that, so his next aim was to win the same number of European Cups as Liverpool.

"When you're as driven as that, and you've got players with that same kind of desire, you've got half a chance.

"You are a long time retired - in his case he's been involved in one club for 25 years. Being brutally honest you're not going to see that again in the modern game."

Between now and May there promises to be another epic title race, with United driven by the memory of last season and City's last-gasp championship win - and Cole believes the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea could yet re-enter the equation.

"There's so many games to go," he said. "You look at how Chelsea started, and the football they played, and now they're having a bit of indifferent form.

"Currently it's the two Manchester teams at the top of the table, and rightly so for the way they performed so far.

"But there's still a hell of a long way to go, Christmas is a really tough period with quite a few games.

"If you're going to have that financial resource (at Manchester City), you've got to be there or thereabouts.

"If you look at Chelsea when Abramovich took over, he had that effect there (on their expectation).

"City can compete for the best players in the world, they can pay the wages, and that's a good thing for United.

"It keeps us on our toes, to keep striving to be where we want to be at."

United have pledged to bring their full squad to Sydney as part of their pre-season program, subject only to injuries, with Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie to be the headline acts.

Cole is fiercely protective of the current United side, which - Rooney and Van Persie aside - some observers have suggested lacks the star-power of previous vintages.

"People knock the current side, yet they've been involved in every championship race," he said. "They only lost last season on goal difference, and the season before that they won the league and got to the European Cup final.

"People who suggest this isn't the best United team just need to check the facts and see what they've achieved."

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